We're having a heat wave, unusual for us. In the 80s and 90s. I'm worried about the babies in the garage. I turned off the heat lamp. I guess I'll set my alarm for midnight and go out and make sure it hasn't gotten too cold. They're 4 weeks old. What would too cold be? They're saying tonight's low will be 64.
I'm more worried about them during the day. Can I put a fan in there and blow air around? I hope to have them in a tractor by the end of the week. Of course, by then it will have cooled down and will probably rain!
It sure is hot...
At 4 weeks they need to be able to stay around 80 degrees. Can you have the lamp on--but with enough room for them to get away if they need to?
I left my 3 week olds with my DH once and he misunderstood and turned the lamp off every night.for 4 days...only 2 survived and they took a long time to recover.
The heat is worrying though. We are having it too, although it is more seasonal here.
at 4 weeks old their temp should be at 75 degrees. i'd keep the light on at night to one side of the brooder so when daytime comes if it is to hot they can spread out away from the light where it is cooler till u get up. a fan in day should be ok as long as it is not blowing directly on them . a draft from it might make them to cold.
lol, u posted while i was typing and talking.
This message was edited Jul 28, 2009 12:00 AM
I put mine outside here when they are 4 weeks..
Not saying that's what to do.. just what I do. They do so much better for me if I get them outside ASAP
Gwen with our temps, a 40 watt bulb is plenty. remember 65outside is probable 70-75 inside. Trust me on this I'm your neighbor. I had 105 temps in my coop today and it takes all night to get down to 70 in there. Haystack.. It's supposed to ge up to 98 tomorrow and thur also. My oh my
Hay, it's much cooler on Whidbey Island. We're supposed to get down to 64. It's cooler in the garage than in the house. It's warmer in the garage than outside tho. I know it will cool off in there because it was cool in there this morning. Changing the light bulb - brilliant idea. I don't know why I didn't think of that. I feel really stupid!
I thought the chickies were supposed to start out at 95 degrees and go down 5 degrees every week. That would put them at 75 right now.
Actually, the first couple weeks when I had the temp up full blast, they stayed away from it. I moved it around a lot and usually they seemed to like it best when it was way off to the side.
I just today read some warning to keep the bulb at least 18 inches away from wood and combustible materials. Uh oh! Mine was right over the wood!!! Lucky I didn't burn the house down. My husband moved a candle and put it too near the lamp and it melted all down the side of our bath tub. It had dried plant material in it, decoration stuff, and I told him he was lucky the house didn't burn down!
I will be sooo glad when these babies get into a coop!
ZZ, I tend to agree with you - they'll do better outside. Just a hunch that fresh air is better for them than being cooped up in the stale old garage. And they can huddle for warm as long as it's not too cold.
Cats, they were definitely away from the heat when I had it on earlier. I had cantelope in there for them and they ignored it because it was close to the lamp. Once I turned the lamp off, they went after that cantelope quickly! Are you in Lodi, Calif? I have relatives in Galt.
I'll put a 75 watt bulb in there, but dh said it wouldn't give off much warmth, just light. I disagree, light bulbs are absolutely warm. Anyway, 75 is the lowest I have.
I think the big swing in temps, really high and then much lower would not be good for them.
worry worry worry, I'm a mother hen.
Yes, Gwendalou--ZZ and I are both in Lodi CA. We didn't even know each other till we met on DG.
I like Galt--I think they have better zoning for chickens:0)
It gets in the 60s every night here too--its the only way we can survive without air conditioning when daytime temps are in the 100s.
My cousins' last name is Hurst. Mike is a school teacher there in Lodi. He teaches at one of the year-round schools. We were just down there 2 weeks ago up in Arnold for a week's vacation with them and other relatives. It was hot there - high 90s. I don't know how you stand it.
Dh and I are waiting for the 250 watt bulb to cool off so we can take it out and put in the 75 one..... It was only one 1 or 2 minutes and it got that hot in that amount of time. Think of the heat it puts out to those poor chickens.
I've given up on the 250 brooder bulbs for small flocks of chicks. I buy 100 watt red flood lights from the hardware store. Much cheaper both to buy and run. And you can use the regular metal light holders cause they won't overheat them.
Yes, Gwendalou it is hot here.. Arnold? That would be cooler than we are! LOL It's got some elevation there.. I love Arnold!
We have to concentrate more on keeping the chickens cool, rather than keeping them warm! :)
I use 150 watt heat bulbs but they are always on a plug in dimmer switch Catscan told me about for the hatcher.. I only use it full blast the first week.. by week 4, I usually only have a very faint light left.. Works GREAT for me.. You can adjust it according to how the chicks are acting, rather than a schedule.. They will huddle when it's too low..
A worried mother is a good mother. :) You'll settle down in good time.
Where does one get the dimmer? Do you have a brand?
We buy them at Lowe's. It is the one that you can slide up and down, not the one that turns like a dial. It is easy to use because you just plug the dimmer cord in and then plug the light into the dimmer--no wiring needed.
ZZ is the one that came up with using it in the brooder--I used it in my home made incubator/hatcher.
I get mine at Walmart.. They are about $10. each but well worth it in my opinion! It plugs in the wall, and the light plugs into it.. I couldn't stand to be without them!
Hey! You didn't tell me they had them at Walmart!:0)
I'll look into that. My only concern is that I know dimmer switches give off some of the highest numbers of high-frequency pollutants. In my home, I love having certain lights on a dimmer, like in the dining room, for instance, and I feel the good vibes that come from the ambiance offset the HFPs from the dimmer. Don't know if the chickens really would 'get' the ambiance thing. LOL Right now I'm turning off the bulb in the day time and turning it back on late at night. I have a 75 watt bulb in there.